Modules

Getting to Brown: Law as an Agent for Social Change

M. Catherine Beck, English/Law

Using a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, as an illustration of how NAACP attorneys used the courts to end racial segregation in schools, students are introduced to how the common law system of the United States can be used for social change. Additionally, the activity validates students’ experiences in legal systems different from the United States and/or validates students' knowledge of how law has been used for social change in or outside of the United States.

Instructor Prep. Time	Student In-Class Time	Student Out-of-Class Time
Approximately 30 minutes	Approximately 3 1/2 hours	1 hour

The Road to Brown film, available at IUPUI University Library, or at www.newsreel.org

Pen and paper
Chalkboard, whiteboard, or document camera
Writing Journal prompt
Listening Test
Law dictionary (Black’s Law Dictionary recommended)
English dictionary (Longman Dictionary of American English recommended)

Step-by-Step Procedure:

These assignments are meant to be spread out over several days, particularly if this module is part of a larger unit on law, social change, etc.

Assign for homework a reading from a newspaper about Brown v. Board of Education. An internet search for articles in 2004 (the 50th anniversary of the landmark decision) should provide several choices.

Project on a screen or hand out the following writing journal prompt: In the United States, the law has often been used as an agent for social change. Are you aware of any examples? Explain. OR for classes with students who have come from countries outside the United States: Has the law been used in such ways in your country? How? Do you think the law should be used for such change? Why or why not?

Give students 20 minutes to write responses in their writing journals.

Introduce the film, The Road to Brown, by first reviewing how cases are “named” in the U.S. and then how cases are referenced. Ask students if they’re aware of any landmark case names, and in particular, if they know what case is referenced in the title of the film. Ask students how the title of the film explains the film’s context (The Road to Brown is about the series of events and court cases that led to the landmark decision).

Show the film in class.

Lead a discussion of student reaction to The Road to Brown. Ask students about unfamiliar vocabulary from the film and put the words on the board. Ask if any students know the meaning of any word on the board; then ask those students to provide a definition for the rest of the class. For remaining words, ask for volunteers to guess at the term’s meaning using context clues from the film or look meanings up in the law dictionary or English dictionary and share with the class. Anticipate being asked about the following terms and idioms:

Jim Crow
Dred Scott
NAACP
Hon. or Honorable in front of a name
Criss-crossed
Bondage
13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
Colored
Comingling
Separate but equal
Lynch
Privileged background
Summa cum laude
Latrine
Cadre
Precedent
Judicial restraint
Forge this team
Gathering the forces
Back his strategy
Ushered me out
Cut class
Showdown
2-4-6-8, we don’t want to integrate

If students don’t mention these terms as unfamiliar, ask if they already know them.

Give students 10-20 minutes to answer the questions below:

What did the Supreme Court decide in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)?
What three word doctrine justified legal segregation in the South from 1896 to 1954?
What weakness in the Jim Crow laws did Charles Hamilton Houston and his team challenge first? Why?
What was the reasoning behind the decision to focus on desegregating education first?
How did Houston and his lawyers prove that black schools were not treated equally by the government? Give examples.
Did the Brown v. Board of Education case end racial discrimination? What has happened since Brown?
The film referred to the following quote from Houston: “A lawyer is either a social engineer or a parasite on society.” What did this mean for Houston? Do you agree?

Collect their answers.

Assign students a 3-5 minute presentation on the topic, “How the legal system of my country has been used – or could be used – for social change.” Encourage classmates to ask questions at the end of each presentation.

Suggestions for Use:

This module is easily adapted for use in other contexts. More emphasis can be placed on using authentic documents as a way to introduce the accessibility of legal documents in the United States. Additional activities and lessons about Brown v. Board of Education or other landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions can be found at www.landmarkcases.org. Accessibility to legal documents in the United States can be modeled by the teacher in the classroom by looking at such internet sites in a computer lab with the class or on a screen at the front of the classroom. Other examples of using official documents as a frame for multicultural discussion in the classroom can be found here.

Depending on the time available, additional modules could focus on critical reading skills using a range of authentic legal documents, beginning with the newspaper article in this module and moving to statutes, court decisions, and constitutional amendments, all dealing with Brown v. Board of Education or any other landmark Supreme Court decision. Also, depending on time, additional modules could include reenactments of hearings and oral arguments leading up to and including the landmark Supreme Court case.